Breakfast Session: Energy Recovery Wheels

Wednesday, October 6

Laboratories typically require high ventilation rates that cause significant heating and cooling energy use. Energy recovery systems can substantially reduce heating and cooling energy associated with conditioning laboratory ventilation air, thus saving energy and money.

One emerging technology for achieving energy recovery in laboratories is the so-called "heat wheel" or rotary heat exchanger. A basic heat wheel recovers sensible-only energy between the lab's exhaust air and the incoming outside air. Advanced versions of the heat wheel, called enthalpy wheels, transfer both sensible and latent energy. Both enthalpy wheels and total energy wheels, sometimes referred to as desiccant wheels, are currently available.

This breakfast session explored issues relating to this exciting technology, including:

• Emerging issues related to using energy recovery wheels.
• Experiences with the design and engineering of these systems.
• Current status of the technology, as well as limitations and
  opportunities.

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